Bio-Architecture

All over the world, cities and urban areas are experiencing increasing signs of environmental stress, poor air quality, excessive noise, and traffic congestion. More and more citizens are suffering from health conditions related to high pollution levels. Architecture and urban planning based on environmental preservation are the only options for maintaining quality of life and preventing lasting environmental damage. Awareness of these issues and information on possible opportunities existing world-wide are vital to the development of new possibilities and new scopes in restructuring urban and agricultural areas, as well as human settlements in general. Bio-architecture, as promoted by B.I.O., links the appreciation of the environment and biodiversity with urban design and planning. Bio-architecture also promotes the use of materials and techniques which are environmentally sound, culturally sensitive and reliant on local resources and skills. It is based on the application of clean energy sources, cleaner production and environmentally friendly materials, and aims at creating a self-sufficient, aesthetically pleasing urban environment with minimal waste generation and with an active participation of every member of society in the protection of bios.

The promotion of sustainable architecture and urban planning are high on the list of B.I.O. priorities. Since 1985, we have published 14 chapters on architecture that supports and protects the environment in the volumes of proceedings from our international conferences, as well as three major articles in BioNews. A Hellenic-Russian Symposium held in 1991 also focused on models of bio-architectural design. Furthermore, an extensive chapter on “Bio-Architecture” is featured in Bio-Syllabus for European Environmental Education, an 880-page textbook available in print and electronically (CD-Rom). Based on this pioneering material is B.I.O.’s e-learning course on “Architecture and Urban Planning,” which is currently available online as part of our extensive e-learning programme in environmental education. Written contributions by B.I.O. on the subject of sustainable architecture have appeared in proceedings from several conferences and events, as well as in the international press.

A Trip to the Most Beautiful State

I started off on a lengthy journey and found myself in the cell’s state
I was afraid lest I feel desperate
but instead I was startled with joy

What an incredible world is working
day and night with so many machines
in such harmony
that cannot even be found
in the most lavishly decorated churches

To pass through the gate
I had to go through a terrible control
guards, lipids, proteins, receptors
all of them check

whether you will pass the entrance
As soon as you enter
the State of the select
you will face thousands of machines
each one working separately
but in a magic way
all of them contribute to the effort
which coordinates this world

Even the most trivial electrons
know when to pass through the membranes
they get energy from sugar
within the mitochondria
and thus, all the parts can move

Even if the code is hidden
in the dark abyss of the nucleus
again wisely the secrets pass
to the cytoplasm by a mysterious trail

They carry a code
secretly copied in letters
reaching
the endoplasmic reticulum network
and follow the pathway to the home
dressed in red colours
and magically we call it ribosomes

Quickly the code’s tangled words
are assembled in order
with secrets they untangle
they synthesise the proteins for life

Workers come and go the hormones
in the nucleus, the cytoplasm,
the golgi, and everywhere
as though they are asking
from all the other parts
to obey only them

But here there is harmony
and very deep mystery
nature decorated with a magic crown
knits happily a web
which knows billions of aims every minute
and to compose the cell’s
most melodic tune

Á. Vlavianos-Arvanitis, 1982
(Collection of Poems Roots)

References

E-LEARNING

An e-learning course on Architecture has been developed and is currently being offered online through our website.

BIOPOLITICS – THE BIO-ENVIRONMENT – BIO-SYLLABUS
A. Vlavianos-Arvanitis. A model global bio-education promoted by the International University for the Bio-Environment, 1992– Bio-Architecture
A. Vlavianos-Arvanitis

BIO NEWS

Events

2015

Biopolis – Biopolicy for Greener and More Livable Cities, paper published in the volume of proceedings from the Meeting of the World Society for Ekistics on “The Cities, Security and Poverty,” 7-10 July 2013, Ankara, Turkey, Hacettepe Univesrity, 179-196 pp.

2014

B.I.O. President is elected Vice President of the Executive Council of the World Society for Ekistics

Keynote speech and participation as Member of the Board in the World Society of Ekistics Conference, on “Cities – Security and Poverty” Ankara, Turkey. The speech is published in the conference’s volume of proceedings in 2015.

2012

Extensive e-learning program ον Biopolis – Sustainable Urban Development offered in English and Greek.

B.I.O. President is main speaker at the conference on “WSE Achievements and Prospects: The Last 50 Years – The Next 50 Years,” organized by the World Society for Ekistics in Naples, Italy.

Participation in the UN Habitat’s 6th World Urban Forum as Member of the Executive Board of the World Society for Ekistics, Naples, Italy

2011

Participation in the World Society for Ekistics Executive Council Meeting

2010

“Biopolis – An Urban Development Model: Networking, Education and Culture,” a joint paper with Professor Rusen Keles presented at the World Society of Ekistics Conference in Mumbai, India

2009

B.I.O. President is the opening speaker at the World Society for Ekistics conference on “Biopolis and Climate Change Mitigation – The Building of Green Cities,” Antalya, Turkey

2008

Management of the Sustainable Urban Planning Educational Module and website developed for the Leonardo da Vinci Program on “Promoting Urban Sustainable Development in Local Authorities – PROUD” The project aimed at promoting the concept and practice of urban sustainable development through training on basic environmental issues. The project served also to encourage local authorities of the new Member States to get involved and to create their own action plans.

Keynote address and presentation of the project’s website and module on Sustainable Urban Management at the Partner’s meeting in Sabadell, Spain

Keynote speech and presentation at the PROUD Forum on “Promoting Urban Sustainable Development in Local Authorities,” Budapest, Hungary

Keynote speech and presentation at the PROUD Forum on “Promoting Urban Sustainable Development in Local Authorities,” Prague, Czech Republic

Publication of CD-Rom and website for the Leonardo da Vinci Program on “Promoting Urban Sustainable Development in Local Authorities – PROUD”

Participation in the Leonardo da Vinci educational program on “Promoting Urban Sustainable Development in Local Authorities – PROUD,” coordinated by Intercollege Cyprus

Keynote address and presentation of the project’s website and module on Sustainable Urban Management at the Partner’s meeting for the Leonardo da Vinci project on “Promoting Urban Sustainable Development in Local Authorities – PROUD,” Nicosia, Cyprus

Biopolitics is Honorary Co-Chair of the International Scientific Conference on “Urban gardens and parks: past, modern ad future” sponsored by the Ukrainian State University of Forestry and Wood Technology. Lviv, Ukraine

Bio-Architecture is extensively discussed during the Hellenic­Russian B.I.O. Symposium on “Biopolitics ­ the Bio­Environment and International Co-operation,” with the participation of leading Russian scientists and academics

1989

The Polish Architectural Society requested close collaboration with B.I.O. A proposal for a project on city planning inWyoming, USA, was submitted under the name “Biopolis”

1988

Bio-Architecture was discussed extensively at the Second B.I.O. International Conference. “Bios in the Next Millennium,” Athens

About Us

The Biopolitics International Organisation (B.I.O.) was founded in 1985, out of the urgent need to raise awareness of current environmental problems, and to accelerate the implementation of new and more effective approaches to safeguarding the earth for the generations to come.